There are so many self help books out there and don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love them and probably read WAY too many. I’ve been reading “Girl, Wash your face,” recently and I am absolutely obsessed! If you haven’t read this book yet, what are you waiting for? In the book, Rachel talks about the lies that we as women place on ourselves and begin to believe about ourselves, and how we need to get away from those negative thoughts and begin to see ourselves the way God intended us to see ourselves. I have gotten so much from this book, I have loved her humor throughout, and getting a glimpse into her personality. Like I said above, I love reading self-help books, encouraging books, and books that will help me become a better me, and while none of that is bad, I have replaced a very important book with all of those. I was hit over the head so hard this morning when I realized that I am so quick to grab one of those types of books instead of reading what God has to say about developing who I am in His word.
Today’s message at church was all about leaving a legacy and allowing God to help develop us into the person he is calling us to be. If we look at the definition of Develop, we will see that it means to bring out the capabilities or possibilities of; bring to a more advanced or effective state. I know that in all areas of my life, I want to be continually growing, or advancing- I don’t want to live a life that is stagnant. But it is so easy to get to a place of stagnancy in many areas of our lives if we are not careful about it. If I were being honest with myself, even-though I hate to admit it, I know that I have allowed myself to become stagnant in my relationship with God, my talents, my growth as a teacher, and even in my relationship with Dave. When I say this, I don’t mean that I haven’t worked on these areas, but I mean that I haven’t given these areas my very best, or continued to give my very best. It hurts to be honest sometimes about these things, but only when we are honest with ourselves can we really begin to grow.
Colossians 2:6-7 talks about living our lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him.
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
To develop and grow in any area of your life, you must be attending to it, asking the hard questions, and feeding it. You must be diligent, consistent, and committed. If I want to be used and develop the gifting that God has given me, I have to put the work in and I have to be in His word on a daily basis. If I want to be rooted in Him, it doesn’t just happen with a little devotion every so often, or going to church every Sunday or even helping when needed. It happens with consistency- It happens with pushing aside my agenda and giving God time to work in my life. I can’t believe it has been more than 6 years now, but while I was doing my student teaching, I got into a really great habit of spending the last 30-40 min before bed in God’s presence. Some nights I would just sit in the dark, listening to worship music and writing in my journal, and other nights I would be praying and letting God’s word soak into my heart. Since that point, I have allowed life and other things to take that place, and I can’t continue to do that! I look to the future and want to be the best wife and mother- I want my kids to see me as a Godly mom, someone that loves God so much and follows His commands, someone who bears fruit- But that will be the result of what I do in this moment. I can’t want all of those things for the future and be doing nothing about it today.
Pastor Peter gave a different definition today that I love, “Development is a process that starts with the word of God taking root inside us and producing fruit for everyone to see.”
So instead of living a stagnant life or a mediocre life with no growth, I am putting things in place to become “rooted” in Christ! They say that anything can become a habit if done consistently within 30 days, so that’s exactly what I will be doing. I plan to give God my time this summer, to grow in His word more, allow Him to speak to me more, and to allow me to grow in every aspect of my walk with Him.
I don’t know if this post has spoken to you, but I do know:
We all want to thrive and grow in life.
We all want to mature and get better.
We all want to become the best we can be.
So lets begin the developing process, no matter how hard it may be or how much time it will take- lets take the first step together! 
